Can We Stay Like This Forever: Meeting Lizzy McAlpine

Ever since I was little, I was always a huge fan of things. My mom used to take me to see my favorite bands in concert at Six Flags, and as I grew up, I started going to more shows on my own. Being a so-called “fangirl” was my favorite part of myself. While finding myself and what I truly enjoy, my favorite artist quickly became Lizzy McAlpine. McAlpine is a 25-year-old singer-songwriter from Philadelphia who released her first album in 2020 and has since seen a rise in fame. I discovered her music when her sophomore album, Five Seconds Flat, came out. I instantly became a huge fan, bought tickets to her first headline tour in New York City, and have since seen her ten times and met my closest friends through her fanbase. With this newfound love and appreciation, the title “fangirl” quickly followed me. Fangirls are often seen as “obsessive” or “crazy,” when we just have passion and love for things, which for me was music—and especially Lizzy. Never in a million years did I think I would be rewarded for pouring my love for her into the world, but somehow I was.

On March 20, 2024, an email went out to Los Angeles residents on Lizzy McAlpine’s mailing list for an event called “The Older Gallery” for her upcoming album, Older. A couple of hours later, five of my friends and I received follows on Twitter by her record label, RCA Records, and a direct message reading: “Hi! Lizzy would love to invite you to The Older Gallery in Los Angeles on April 10th. We’ll take care of flights and two nights at a hotel for you and a guest.” I was genuinely in disbelief and confused, but so excited and grateful. I ran downstairs and showed my mom, asking her if she would go with me. She immediately said yes, and I broke down in tears. My friends and I were on FaceTime that entire night, geeking out about our invites and being so excited to finally meet each other in person. About two weeks later, we received flight details, our hotel information, and an itinerary with a strict 6 PM arrival for those who were flown out, even though the actual event started at 7 PM.

On April 9th, all six of us and our mothers arrived in Los Angeles and met in person for the first time. I’d been friends with these girls for so long, and meeting in person was the most wonderful thing. We all got to hang out, share our love for music, and get ready together. We had all met on Twitter because of Lizzy and talked every single day for the last year. Thanks to her, we got to be on the other side of the country and see her together. It was so full circle. The day of the actual gallery event, April 10th, was filled with tears, happiness, girlhood, and so much love. We arrived at the gallery at our 6 PM call time and were soon greeted by the RCA Records team, who told us to follow them and that “this was all credit to Lizzy.” All freaking out, we were led into a small room with a staircase and told to go upstairs one by one. We all had a suspicion of what was about to happen and held onto that excitement together.

I went third, and waiting for me upstairs was none other than Lizzy McAlpine. My heart sank as I realized my favorite artist was standing right in front of me. We got to have a genuine conversation with no rush, and I got to tell her everything I wanted to. While I told Lizzy all my burning thoughts and questions, a friend of hers stood on the side to take film pictures the whole time. Many hugs were exchanged between the two of us. During our conversation, I asked her, “Did you pick us [to be invited]?” and she answered, “Yes, of course! I see you guys everywhere.” She also told my friend who was flown out, “I knew I was gonna do a fan event. I wasn’t gonna do it on the East Coast, and I was like, ‘I have these fans that I see all the time, and they need to be there because I’m not doing anything on the East Coast,’ so it was easy.” I was in such disbelief that when I got downstairs, I broke down in tears, hugging all my friends. To think that I spent years being a fangirl online, sharing my interests on apps like Twitter and TikTok, and my favorite artist had been seeing it all along—not only that, but she personally invited and flew me out to her album release event. That is something so beyond me that I still can’t even truly comprehend it. I am so eternally grateful, and it will forever be the most crazy, special thing to happen to me.

After all of us had met Lizzy, we went into the actual gallery event with about 100 other fans. The gallery was filled with fake plants to represent the Older aesthetic, a photo booth, magazines, food catered by HomeState, a gallery photo wall, and pillows on the ground to watch her perform later that evening. We took it all in, ate tacos, and then found our spots on the floor. Lizzy performed five songs: I Guess, Movie Star, Better Than This, Older transitioned into The Winner Takes It All by ABBA, and Vortex, after answering questions that fans sent in. All in all, it was such a beautiful environment, surrounded by my best friends and other fans, all watching Lizzy perform and celebrating an album that truly felt like her.

The three days I spent in Los Angeles were three of the best days of my life. I had never felt so comfortable and appreciated in a setting before. Getting to be across the country with girls I met through being a fan of Lizzy’s—and that I have called my best friends online—to finally being able to see them in person was so incredible. I’ll forever be in debt to Lizzy and the team at RCA Records for everything they did for us.